I'm thrilled to participate in Something Wicked Comes, a fabulous
event where bloggers and authors celebrate all things creepy during the
month of October. The event is hosted by Rainy Day Ramblings and
Babbling About Books. Be sure to stop by and visit the busy month long schedule to sign up for awesome giveaways, read interviews from your favorite authors, and discover some great books!
As part of my participation in the Something Wicked Comes for today, I'd like to share with you a guest post by indie author, Holly Barrington, who would like to talk to us about her alternative Britain setting for her debut paranormal novel The Substitute! Be sure to scroll down to the end of the post to see how you can win a copy of Freak. Below is the pretty book cover and its description:

My book "The Substitute" is set in an alternate Britain, where Vampires and Mortals coexist more or less in harmony. They live together as part of a single, integrated society, which has been made possible by two significant developments. One is artificial human blood, known as "The Substitute". The other is a drug that renders Vampires immune to daylight. Vampires and Mortals work together, play together and become friends. Some even marry, although this is still quite rare. For the most part there is no real difference between the two groups. Vampires are stronger and have superior reflexes, but these have little meaning in everyday life. However, just as in any society, there are always extremists. Those who seek to change the order of things through terrorism. There are of course agencies set up to deal with this issue, just as in our world, and the conflict between the two sides is at the heart of the book. This alternative Britain has a similar history to ours, although the book only mentions the First World War onwards. The main differences are the major milestones in Vampire/Mortal relations, such as an agreement known as The Compact, and the involvement of Vampires in the Third Reich. There are a number of reasons why I chose Britain as the setting for my book. Because of the degree of cooperation needed between Vampires and Mortals, based on free will and voluntary participation, the book would not have "worked" in anything but a free, democratic country. It also needed to be set in a country with a long history of integrationand acceptance, with relatively little conflict. And the fact that I am British might have had something to do with it as well. From my point of view, "The Substitute" is a reflection of modern, multicultural Britain where the majority get on very well. I'm no George Orwell, though. I didn’t set out to make any kind of social or political statements. I'm just influenced/inspired by such things, and this is reflected in my writing. I hope this has piqued your interest enough to want to read my book. I hope you do, and I hope you enjoy it. Thank you so much for reading my post, and thank you, Rummanah, for inviting me!

Thank you for stopping by, Holly!

“The Substitute” is set
in an alternate Britain, where Vampires and Mortals co-exist more or
less in harmony. However, that may soon be about to change . . .

Emily
Brown starts her new job at Pathway Software, and at first everything
goes well. She makes new friends there and her bosses are impressed so
things are really looking up for Emily. Until her friend is killed.
Murdered. The official account said it was a gang hit gone bad, and
rumours suggest she had drugs in her possession.

However another,
unofficial, report suggests that the bullet wounds were all
post-mortem, and the drugs were planted on her in the morgue. It also
says that she suffered multiple broken bones, cuts, contusions
and…vampire bites. Everything suggests that her friend died a brutal and
vicious death at the hands of a number of vampires.

Vampire and
Mortal relations are, on the whole, very good. Ever since The Compact,
there have been eighty five years of unprecedented peace between the two
worlds. But there are some dissenters, the foremost of which are the
sinister Circle of Ixiom. And Emily is about to become their bitterest
enemy . . .

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I am a librarian at Maine East High School. The opinions and content of this blog are my own and are not that of my employer.
Note to Authors/Publishers: If you would like me to read and review your book, please read my Review Policy.